When writing as a believer who hopes his writing will impact the kingdom of God and bring more souls into heaven, the question I have pondered is how much “religion” can I put in a book so that someone will start thinking about the afterlife, but not be “too Christian”?
Now, I don’t write just “Christian” novels, but I do have some writing that I intend as an evangelism tool. Before we get into that, though, let me explain the four types of writing I do.
1. Entirely “secular,” which means I have absolutely no intention in having any kind of eternal effect on the reader.
2. Stories that are “adaptations” of Bible stories that don’t really have any “religious” stuff in them except for the story itself. I don’t mention Jesus, or salvation as it pertains to the gospel plan of salvation. Some examples I have are “Noah’s Ark” (I am working on publishing this one soon) which is simply a “what if” scenario. Then there is “The Trials of Avacar,” which is a fantastical account of the ten plagues of Egypt through the eyes of a normal, everyday family (one Egyptian and one Jewish). Instead of calling them Egyptian and Jewish, though, I call them by different names. These stories some people will recognize as “Christian” or bible stories, but they are written to tell a Bible story through a more enjoyable means, rather than the dry, boring - I dare say - rendition of the bible. They do not present the gospel plan of salvation, but they might direct someone to think about reading the biblical accounts.
3. Stories that definitely have a Christian theme, but not overly, in your face bible and Jesus. They tell biblical principles and the such, but in a way as to allow a non-believer, even maybe an anti-Christian to enjoy the story without focusing on the “Christian” part.
4. And there are my “Christian” stories. These are undoubtedly Christian in theme and cannot be mistaken for anything but Christian. They often have the gospel plan of salvation in the story. They have obvious Christian discussions, and storylines. One example I have is in my current published book. In this collection of three short stories, I included one that is filled with the Christian theme in hopes of reaching a few people for Jesus. It is the last book of the three, titled “Omega Station.” You can learn more about this story and the other two by clicking on the link to read more about my book on the side of my homepage, or you can watch my YouTube post about it.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxZzcociqdVRD1RfFZIHV3g
So, those are the four types of writing I do. When I write the last three, I have to decide the purpose of the fiction and the audience. Obviously for the last one, I wouldn’t expect an atheist to want to read it, but maybe for the second one she might pick it up and read it. The first has no spiritual intention at all, the second, maybe a little, but not much hope that someone will get saved from reading it (though Christ can do all things and it is possible). The third, again probably won’t result in salvations, but it is just as likely as the second (I would probably group these two in the same category as eternal results). The fourth one is intended (or at least hoped for) to bring people into a saving knowledge of Jesus.
So, When I write, I have picked one of these four “types,” and then I decide how much “Christian” stuff to put in each, based on my intended audience. Now, I understand that all four types will have Christian audiences, but the fourth will have few non-Christian readers, but I am not talking about the Christian reader. So, I decide how much Christian stuff to put in the book based on who I am trying to reach.
So, to answer the question above, yes you can have too much religion in your books, depending on the audience you want…….and no, you can’t have too much religion in your books depending on the audience you want. Pick your audience and then write your book. If it is an audience that may not want to read Christian themes, then it is too religious, but if it is an audience that likes the Christian theme, then you really can’t have too much religion.
Before I end, I wanted to let you know about a couple of new web pages I am publishing. First, I started an online store for my books. Currently I just have the one book, but hopefully, by the end of 2018, I will have two more. Also, I will be starting a Patreon page in a couple of days. You can think of Patreon as an online magazine – at least that is how I think of it. You can subscribe to artists pages (music, writing, painters, graphic designers, etc.) for a small subscription fee to which you get different rewards based on the subscription tier you decide to subscribe to. Subscribers to my Patreon page will get a serial novel published monthly (about ten pages or so each month) and other items, depending on your subscription. I hope you check it out. My goal is to have it up and running on the 15th of March, so check it out on Thursday!!!!